Gender, Identity & Representation

Gender Conformity

gender comes from ideas and societal constructs and perceived as 'gender norms'. 'Sex' Is to be the biological difference between men and women. Gender is this construct of cultural roles of masculinity and femininity. These are said to be not natural properties of men and women but social constructs we have devised and become the 'normality'. Definition of gender can be a depiction on a period of time. There are spectrums in which people place themselves that represents how they are as a person. 'Non - Binary' is a spectrum of identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine. Judith Butler comments a lot on gender performance and how back in a specific period in time men and women has specific roles to play out. 

Male Gaze and the roles of 'Men' & 'Women' 

male gaze is the act of representing women in the visual media for the male appeal which reduces women to objects. The social presence of women is different:

- Men are seen to be assertive 
- Women are put to be in supportive roles 
- Men survey 
- Women are surveyed

A form of media where we see to seen these roles is in a classic children's book 'when the tiger calm for tea':

- the mum is attentive and offers food as she sees that as her 'duty' 
- the 'daddy' taking the authoritative role and charge of key decisions within the household
- the tigers 'gender' isn't revealed but we can see by the mannerisms and the way he acts he gives off a male persona and presence. 
- Roles like the 'stay at home mum' 
- the 'Daddy' goes out to work in order to supply the family.
- the mum bends over backwards to make sure her husband gets everything he wants and needs. 

and all of these points show a depiction and period in time where the men and women roles were very much prominent. but now in todays culture there is more of an adaptation of both roles. Men adopting more feminine roles and starting to become more affectionate and emotional that could back then be seen as a sign of weakness of a particularly feminine trait. Women are starting to stick up for themselves and beginning to become more independent and people are starting to accept women for being authentically themselves whether that adopting masculine or feminine traits.